Railure Pt 1
by McRaider
Summary: Four ideas stuffed into on major piece, a little child steals the heart of Carson and Emeena Beckett away. Next installment...not what you think!
1. Chapter 1

Stargate Atlantis: The Atlantis Generation Chronicles  
Rilaurë Pt. 1  
Summary: Four ideas stuffed into on major piece, a little child steals the heart of Carson and Emeena Beckett away.  
Author's Note: A lot more is discovered about Emeena's background as an ancient, this is really a Carson/Emeena story but there's a lot of the other characters too.  
Rated: PG-13 for violence, language and child abuse  
Pairings: Carson/OC, Sheyla, McWeir

_**And a tiny child shall come**_

_**Forth to save the city floating**_

_**Upon water from the dark **_

_**Shadows.**_

_"Mother?" the small dark haired girl called out as she reached for the door to the old fashioned cottage… "I remember this," she whispered as she stepped into the cottage. She had spent the first four years of her life here, their first home on earth, their only home on earth. It was a simple cottage, it was made mostly of something daddy called lumber, and it smelled of oak and pine. _

_It was beautiful, a dark colored pine inside a fire place in the living area, upstairs were the bedrooms, and to the left was a beautiful kitchen that her momma had spent most of her time in. Momma had loved to cook, which she had always found strange for a person not completely human. _

_"Momma?" she called, walking into the kitchen, she smiled, a tall woman with long dark hair just like her own stood with her back to the world, "momma, where's papa?" She asked simply._

_"Emie, what on earth are you doing here darling?" the woman turned around, she was wearing a blue apron and smiled softly at her child, "come here my child."_

_The small child took a tentative step towards her momma and felt love and warmth as the woman's arms were wrapped tightly around her body, "you should not be here my child. It is not safe."_

_"Be where momma, here?" The dark haired girl looked up from her momma's eyes and gasped, the scenery had changed, she knew this place just as well. She had spent many hours running around the halls, playing with friends. _

_"It is dangerous for you young one," the woman spoke to her._

_"Momma, we were just on earth, how did we get here?" the girl asked confused how they had moved to Atlantis so quickly. Even now as an adult she knew this place like the back of her hand, perhaps more than some scientists on Atlantis._

_"Darling, so much to tell you, so much child; but you must go. You cannot stay here."_

_"Momma, why can't I stay here? What's wrong momma? What's wrong?"_

_"Darkness is coming my child, a darkness unlike anything ever known before," she whispered to the child._

_"Wraith momma?"_

_"No child, worse than wraith. Fear can't escape it, nothing can. There is no hiding from the darkness."_

_"Momma, what is it?"_

_"It hunts on terror child, it feeds of fear," she whispered in a almost cold voice, causing shivers to run up the child's spine._

_"What do we do momma?" the girl asked._

_"I cannot…I must go, get out of here child, take your people and leave. You are not safe here!" suddenly the woman faded before the child's eyes. _

"MOMMA!" Emeena Venkman gasped as she sat up in the bed, looking around she took a deep breath.

She was on Atlantis, she had been on Atlantis for nearly six months now, alternating between her planet and Atlantis as often as possible, she had come here to learn more about their medicine, and perhaps more about their Doctor Carson Beckett. She was in her quarters, safe and sound on Atlantis. She pressed a hand against her forehead for a moment, the sudden picture of her mother's frightening face caused her to gasp and whip her eyes open again.

She clamored clumsily out of her room, and moved down the hall three doors, until she came to the one she knew very well. She began to knock on it, quietly at first, then it became frantic, praying he was inside and not up in the medical bay fixing up a certain scientist that had a pension for not sleeping. Carson Beckett, MD and all around good Scotsmen was seriously prepared to do damage to whoever was pounding at his door at such an ungodly hour of the night. He had spent the entire day working with Rodney on various Ancient devices and he was ready to put the day behind him. Getting out of bed he ungracefully made his towards his door, cursing lightly when he ran into his bedside table; he turned the lights on with his gene and rubbed his eyes then opened the door.

Emeena stood before him, her face filled with fear and worry, "Emeena?" he asked hoarsely, still half asleep.

"Something is going to happen," she said looking at him.

Carson's eyebrows raised and his eyes opened further, he realized his future wife was standing in the hallway freezing in just a t-shirt and pair of pants, her arms were wrapped around her chest, holding herself as though she was really scared or cold.

"Come here love," Carson gently pulled her inside and closed the door behind them. He led her over to the couch where he sat her down.

Emeena watched as Carson hurried around trying to get a cup of tea for them both, moments later he came over to the couch with a blanket and two cups of tea. He handed her one cup and wrapped a blanket around her shoulders.

"Now, tell me what happened?" he said sitting down beside her, turned so he could see her face.

"I had a dream…a dark dream or nightmare as your people call it… I saw my mother…Carson I haven't seen her since I was a child," she took a sip of her coffee, as hoping it would calm her then continued, "she said something, but it didn't make any sense…then she, she just died, disappeared right in front of me."

Carson looked, scooting closer he pulled her into his arms and sighed, "do you remember what she said?"

"It was…oraculum…um," she paused searching for the word, "a prediction…"

"A prophecy?" Carson asked looking at her skeptically.

"Ah…I suppose yes, mother was different; she always knew everything, before it happened."

"And yet she died?"

"Yes, she was murdered…Carson what's wrong with me?"

"Nothing love, you're fine, you just had a nasty nightmare. Do you remember the…oraculum?" he asked looking at her.

"Mother said something along the lines that something was coming and we weren't safe here, that it was worse than wraith. Fear can't escape it, nothing can. There is no hiding from the darkness. What does that mean, nothing is stronger or worst than the Wraith…right?"

"I don't try to figure out this stuff, here write it down and I'll give it Rodney tomorrow morning. You're shaking like a leaf," he whispered pulling her closer. Carson held her as tight as he could as she cried into his shoulder; the usually strong woman let her defenses down and cried. Carson sighed and kissed the top of her hair, "you're safe love," he whispered softly.


	2. Chapter 2

The metal weights went up, descending back down to meet the other several weights. The long leg pushed it up again at the knee, Rodney huffed the air out as he moved his knee again. His gray shirt was drenched in sweat as he continued with the forty pounds.

"How ya doin' Rodney?" came Carson's voice from the door way. Rodney smiled and gave a quick wave before continuing with his strength training. No one could question that Rodney wanted back on the team soon, and he was already making great progress in working the strength back up in his knee.

"Oh just lovely, my knee feels like it's on fire, my soon to be wife is angry with me because I spent last night hovering over my laptop and I haven't had lunch yet, you hungry?" Rodney asked as he reached out for his crutches and lifted himself from the machine.

"Starved actually, John told me you'd be down here and I thought I'd come to see if you'd like to join me for a little talk and food?"

"Love to, but can we stop by the infirmary first so I can grab a quick shower and maybe a mild pain killer?"

"I'm sure we can manage that lad."

Rodney had been doing beautifully, he had mastered his crutches within a day of getting them, he was ginger on his knee nearly all the time with the exception of when he was in the weight and training room. He had started off doing very little at first, but as time began to wear on he continued with two physical therapy sessions a day adding weight every week.

"Never thought forty pounds of anything could hurt so much," joked Rodney as he and Carson moved into the infirmary.

Carson chuckled and handed the man an Ibuprofen and pointed towards the showers, "before you stink up my infirmary," Carson grinned.

Rodney emerged ten minutes later looking much better and in a little less pain. On his crutches Carson and Rodney made their way to a transporter so they could get to the mess hall.

"What were ya studying that made you skip sleep last night?"

"I've been looking for the creature we ran into on the ice planet," Rodney stated.

"Anything new?"

"Nope, it doesn't look like the ancients have anything on them, which worries me."

"Have you spoken to Elizabeth about going back to the planet to pick the creature up? I'm sure I could find someone to do the autopsy."

"As I said Elizabeth is angry at me currently, she thinks I'm not taking care of myself."

"Are ya?"

"I haven't missed…many meals," Carson grinned at Rodney's comment.

"She's just worried about ya lad, and who can blame her, she's carrying your child. She wasn't exactly privy to the idea of being a single mother when you were stranded on that planet."

"Missing one meal won't kill me," stated Rodney as he grabbed a tray and handed Carson one of his crutches so he could hold the tray against his side.

"I could help ya, asking for help doesn't make ya weak Rodney," Carson said.

"Nope, I got it, I'm going to be crippled for two months or so I should at least be able to get my own food," he said grinning.

"You're in a considerably good mood, can I ask why?" Carson asked as he took the tray from Rodney so they could make their way over to the nearest table.

"Well, if all goes well Teyla and one of the high council members will be arriving next week to wed Elizabeth and me."

"And if all doesn't go well?" Carson asked looking at his friend seriously.

"I won't wake up tomorrow morning because she'll kill me," joked Rodney.

"You're starting to sound like a regular married man," laughed Carson.

"Starting to feel like one too, speaking of which I heard a rumor you asked Linor about the marriage customs on Caledonia, does that mean we can expect to see you to married soon?"

"We'll be going through the ceremony in a month or so."

"Sounds good, so what did you want to talk to me about?" Rodney asked taking a bite of his roll.

"Emeena had a nightmare last night, or as the Caledonian's call them dark dreams, anyway it was about her mother."

"Her mother is dead right?" Rodney asked trying to remember.

"Yes, but apparently she knows something we don't, here take a look at this," Carson handed Rodney the piece of paper with the prophecy written on it. Rodney looked it over quickly, "that's what Emeena's mother told her last night in her sleep."

"What does it mean?" Rodney questioned.

"That's what I was hoping you could tell me. I don't pretend to be a genius, I know you're not exactly a linguist or anything, but I was hoping you could figure this out for me."

"I'll try and figure it out, but there's not exactly much to go on. How do we know it hasn't already happened?"

"Rodney, do ya really think Emeena would have this dream now if it had already happened."

"Probably not…I don't have any ideas. I'll look it over and see if I can't find anything described as a shadow in the ancient database"

"Just see what you can do okay?" Carson asked.

"Sure, oh if I could convince Elizabeth to let John, Teyla Ford and I to go back and pick up that creature we found on the ice planet, could I go with them?"

"Rodney, you're on crutches, you won't do much good to anyone if you get stuck in a bad situation."

"I realize that…but its imperative we find out what that creature is," Rodney stated.

"No, you can't go, but you John, Teyla and Ford can bring it back here and we'll figure it out together," Carson said.

"I'll take it, now I just have to convince Elizabeth…"

"Yes, speaking of which your soon to be wife just entered," Carson spoke with a grin all over his face as the beautiful commander headed over to them and took a seat.

"Hello gentlemen," she greeted.

"Elizabeth, how are you feeling?" Carson asked kindly.

"Decent, some days are better than others," Elizabeth replied smiling, today was a good day, eight weeks along and she felt wonderful. She was going to have a baby, she was glad she wouldn't start showing just yet. She had told Teyla, John and Ford, as well as Rodney and Emeena, but other than she wanted to keep it a secret for as long as she could. She was amazed that even from who did know that everyone on Atlantis wasn't already aware she was eight weeks pregnant.

"You know Elizabeth, Carson and I were talking and…" Rodney paused and looked from Carson to Elizabeth then back to Carson, "I found a body, whatever shot us down, it wasn't human, you've heard me tell you this before, we need to get the body…it may help us plan in the future."

"Rodney, my answer was no last week and my answer will remain to be no until I'm sure you can make it there and back safely," Elizabeth stated. She wasn't trying to protect Rodney, although that was part of it. She couldn't afford to loose anyone now, she would be unable to do a lot of her duties in a little over five months and she needed everyone alive and well so that when she was off duty they could take over.

"They could use the cloak Elizabeth, Rodney doesn't have to go, just John, Teyla and Ford."

"Is John up to it?" Elizabeth asked looking at the doctor.

Rodney looked at Carson hopefully, as though he was a little boy in a candy store that wanted something. If he couldn't get Elizabeth to break he could get Carson to break her.

"I think he can handle it; Elizabeth it will be a simple mission, they can leave tomorrow morning and be back before night fall. If they remain cloaked the entire time it can probably be done without anyone ever seeing them."

"And what if the ship that shot you down is still hovering over the area somewhere and they have a device that can see cloaked ships?"

"Elizabeth, we need to go!" Rodney stated.

"Rodney, you have to understand as the commander of this facility it's my job to protect these people all of them. And while you may think it's fine, I'm not really excited about the idea of sending three of my best people back to a planet where one of them nearly died two weeks ago, I'm also not to thrilled about the idea of bringing an unknown threat back to this city with just your word that it's probably dead."

Rodney glared at her, if he hadn't been handicapped he would have gotten up and walked away but he was forced to stay where he was, "as the commander it's also your job to find the other threats out there that could take us out…"

"I don't go looking for trouble Dr. McKay, we've already found plenty of that, we've still got the Wraith hanging around in the solar system and the Genii still hate us. Now tell me why I should risk more people's lives just to find a new race that could be more deadly and frightening then both the Genii and the Wraith put together!" Her emphasis was on Rodney's professional name.

"They already know we're out there Elizabeth, they shot us down because they assumed we were a threat. That makes them an equal threat," Rodney bit back.

"The answer is no Rodney."

"I'm not military, you can't give me orders…" he stated looking at her. He rarely pulled that card out of the bag because in all technical sense he was on the Air Force's pay roll, but here he didn't really get paid.

"I can give you orders because you are here for the Air Force, and you are my head scientist, if you wish to rescind that position I'm sure I can change that."

"Whoa, okay stop both of you," Carson came in, deciding it was time to stop this before it got further out of hand, "What are you five year olds. Elizabeth, at least consider the complete idea before you say no. Rodney if she says no then that's the end of the story. You two run this bloody city don't let everyone see you fightin' like this."

"I have work to do," Rodney said as he grabbed his crutches and hobbled away from the table, leaving Elizabeth and Carson.

"Okay that was completely out of character for…well both of you, what's goin' on lass?"

"He has spent nearly every hour of his time obsessed with that damn alien. He's not going to get any better if he continues like this."

"Lass this is normal for Rodney. What's got you wound so tightly?"

"A lot of things Carson; I'm pregnant in another galaxy. I'm the commanding officer and in five or six months I won' be able to be as effective as I used to be. I've become everything I said I wouldn't become."

"Wait a minute, what? You don't honestly think you're showing favorites do you?"

"Carson…"

"Elizabeth, you are a good commander, there's a reason you were given this position. You aren't favoring anyone, you're actually being harder on Rodney than you are on most of the other military personnel. Now if you're worried or scared you need to talk to Rodney about that, because seeing as how you're going to be his wife soon you can't come running to me every time you two have a problem."

"Maybe I should let John, Teyla and Ford go pick up the alien."

"I'm not saying that, I'm saying you should consider all the sides, he was right, they already found us a threat so if we have some idea what we're up against we may have a surprise ready for them if they find and attack us. They can go in cloaked and they can come out cloaked. They can do this perfectly safe, lass."

"I'll go talk to John, thank you Carson."

"I would talk to your Chief Scientist too; he's got a bur up his butt about somethin' too."

"How much longer until he can go off world again?" Elizabeth questioned suddenly.

Carson sighed and thought for a moment, "He's doing very well Elizabeth, much better than I was expecting, if he continues like he is without killing or hurting himself, three maybe four weeks."

"Does he know that?"

"No, I don't want him to over work himself to try and lessen the time. He's doing wonderfully, but I wouldn't put him out in the field for another month."

"Thank you Carson," he nodded and watched her head out of the mess hall. He looked down at his own food and shook his head.

"Wasn't enjoying it much anyway," he threw the food away and headed back to his infirmary.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: My room is finally empty! Thank you for all the wonderufl reviews, I appericate all your reviews and kind words, I'm glad you're all enjoying this!

She walked into the lab and paused, he stood poised over the laptop, staring at whatever was on the screen, John Sheppard stood by his side, looking over the shoulder of the scientist.

"What about that?" John asked pointing to something on the screen.

"It doesn't look the same…does it?"

"I'm just going by what you said, that matches it pretty closely…" John stated.

"Yeah, but the skin is different…"

"But the face and the…"

"But the skin is different Major, that's what I really notice…"

She cleared her throat, making it known that she was in the room, both pair of eyes looked back at her, "mind if I interrupt?"

"Not at all," John said grinning.

However, Rodney didn't reply, he just continued to stare at the laptop in front of him.

"Actually John, I wanted to know if you were up to a trip back to the planet you and Rodney were stranded on. Rodney seems to believe bringing the alien he found back to Atlantis would be very beneficial, and I tend to agree."

Rodney's eyes grew wide as he looked at Elizabeth. John looked from both of them and grinned, "I can have a team by tomorrow."

"Good, that's what I wanted to hear, now if you excuse me…"

"Elizabeth…" Rodney called.

"I'll let myself out," John said grinning he walked out of the room, pressing the control to close the door behind him.

"Elizabeth, I'm sorry," he whispered, he looked up at her and smiled weakly. He felt annoyed with himself that he had let this get so out of hand.

"Rodney, it's all right, and I apologize that I did not listen to the entire story. I judged your desire for this mission on my emotions. However, in the future you need to understand my answer goes. Rodney, you and I can't keep having these little arguments, you are my chief scientist, just like John and I. What I say goes, for now."

"I…I understand, but it's not always easy Liz, sometimes he…and myself we do what our heart tells us to do."

"I understand that, and that's not bad Rodney, but you also have to remember that everyone on this base needs you. More than that your friends need you."

"Elizabeth, you have to trust us, that's part of your job too, you have to trust that though we may not always listen, we honestly feel what we're doing is best for everyone. We trust you, but you have to be willing to trust your people."

"And I do," Elizabeth stated.

"No, you don't; no more than twenty minutes ago you didn't think Major Sheppard could make a nine hour trip and back in a cloaked puddle jumper. You are not a weak woman, you are a strong woman, and yet you fear like a weak one. Stop it, you're not going to lose us, not me, not John, not Carson, not Teyla or Emeena or anyone. We're here and you have to learn to trust that we are capable of doing our job just as well as you are."

Elizabeth looked at him and paused before speaking another word, she wouldn't apologize, that would be childish, but she realized he was right, she had been acting like a weak person, "I'll do better," she stated.

"Good…I have work to do…I'll see you for dinner?"

"Of course, Rodney…" she paused, shaking her head she smiled, "never mind," with another sigh she walked away, leaving Rodney alone.

He watched her walk out, "I love you too," he whispered, then turned back to his laptop, continuing to work on finding a complete match, he pushed the next button and started to read, "shit," he murmured.

"Radek, I suggest next time you wear something with eye protection," Carson said.

"CARSON!" Rodney came hobbling into the infirmary on one crutch his laptop balanced precariously under his other.

"Rodney, what the 'ell are ya doin'?" Carson said grabbing his friend before the man could topple over and hurt himself.

"I found it! I think I found it," Rodney said in excitement.

"Found what, come here," Carson helped Rodney over to one of the beds, he sat down and opened his laptop.

"Here, right here," he said pointing to the screen, "they're called the…the Morwrath…hmm not far from the Wraith."

"Rodney, not that it's unusual, but ya aren't makin' much sense lad," Carson stated.

"I can't tell you much, but I found them Carson, the creature from the ice planet, I found it."

"That's lovely Rodney, now I have work to do," Carson said looking at the scientist pointedly.

"This is more important than voodoo," Rodney said matter-of-factly.

"Perhaps, but my voodoo keeps people alive lad," Carson replied as he walked away, "where's your other crutch?"

"In my lab…that's not important Carson…"

"Yes it is, however if you were able to use one crutch perhaps it's time to give you a cane," replied Carson simply.

"Carson aren't you listen….a cane? Really?"

Carson grinned and walked away from his best friend, leaving Rodney confused but excited.

"This is Sheppard, we're ready to go," he spoke through his radio as he looked over at Teyla then back to Ford.

"You've got a go Major, and please bring yourselves back in one piece," Elizabeth's voice came loud and clear over the radio, causing the three teammates to smile.

"We'll be fine Elizabeth, don't worry," John replied.

"Yes, well just remember, last time you said that you were heading to this very same planet, so no surprises. Good luck."

"Okay everyone please keep all arms and legs inside the ride at all times," moments later John was lifting the jumper out of Atlantis and off towards the nine hour flight to the planet.

"This planet needs a name," Aiden said randomly about half an hour into the flight.

"Well Rodney and I have been calling it ice planet and the planet from hell, any ideas?" John shot.

Aiden and Teyla grinned, "how about planet ice?"

"Oh yeah Ford, that's real original, almost as good as planet waterfall, see this is why you don't get to name things ever again," John stated simply.

"This from the man who calls it ice planet, yes Major that's a lot better," Aiden replied, "we could call it Iceland," he suggested.

"Have you ever been to Iceland Lieutenant?"

"No sir…"

"Well I thought it was a well know fact that Iceland is green, ironically enough Greenland is Icy."

"So why not call it Greenland."

"Because Sergeant Ingram is from Greenland and I'm fairly sure he wouldn't appreciate that."

"We could call it Antarctica," Aiden pointed.

"No, I liked Antarctica, I really don't like this planet."

"Alaska?"

"Not as cold."

"Iraq?"

"Too hot."

"Are all these names from your world?" Teyla asked looking at them.

"Yeah, we Earthlings tend to name things…a lot and usually after someone," explained John smiling.

"I see."

"The North Pole?" Aiden said with excitement.

"Are you kidding? That's where Santa lives, I can't tell my kids Santa lives in the North Pole and have a planet named the North Pole, I just can't," John said.

"Major you do not have any children," Teyla pointed out.

"Not yet, but I might some day, and when I do I will not tell them Santa lives on a planet where daddy was stranded for four days. Because then they'd ask why didn't Santa help me, and I couldn't tell them Santa didn't exist, absolutely not."

Aiden and Teyla shared a grin, looking back at Sheppard all three grinned in reply to the joke between the friends, "we could call it the McKay," muttered Sheppard grinning.

"Well of course, Rodney would be thrilled to have a nice icy planet named after him," chuckled John.

"McKay it is," Aiden said grinning.

"Atlantis, this is the Major speaking, we've reached the McKay, and we'll be landing momentarily," Sheppard called grinning.

"Excuse me?" Elizabeth said, allowing a small grin to cross her features.

"Aiden decided to name the planet McKay," Sheppard said, Elizabeth could hear the grin in her military officer's voice. She covered her mouth to suppress her chuckled and shook her head.

"Ah, I see, and how did an ice cold planet get named after our sweet chief scientist?" She said sarcastically.

"Because of his cold attitude and icy heart," came Aiden's voice.

"All right, well I suggest you refrain from actually calling it that around our icy scientist. Any idea where the body is John?"

"We're going to swing by a couple times, I'm pretty sure where the jumper is, so it shouldn't be far from there, it'll take us an hour two at the most."

"All right, I expect to hear from you in two hours, if I don't I'm sending someone after you."

"Sheppard out."

Elizabeth grinned trying to find a way to tell their scientist that he now had a planet named after him, she allowed her smiled a small chuckle as she made her way into her office, sitting down at her desk she sighed.


	4. Chapter 4

"There's the jumper," Aiden pointed to the former Atlantis jumper. It was already starting to look frozen, covered in a thin layer of ice.

"Boy am I glad we weren't stranded here that long," John set the cloaked jumper down by the other ship and quickly opened the back hatch, "Rodney said he found it, so it shouldn't be more than ten or fifteen feet from the jumper, seeing as he could barely walk at the time.

They spread out, Teyla took the far side of the jumper, while John took around it, and Aiden looked more around the closer side of the ship. It didn't seem to take long, John found it first and immediately knew what Rodney meant in every way he had described it.

"Ford, Teyla, I found it," he spoke into his radio. He knelt down before it, the skin was a pale pasty color and looked gooey, as though it really wasn't skin but more a layer of music. It looked froze, it had big oily black eyes that stared up…assuming they were open. John was fairly sure the look on the creatures face…assuming it had a look, was one of contempt and betrayal. It had what looked like a tiny nose, sorta like Michael Jackson's nose…only smaller, and thin lips…that were also gray looking.

"That's disgusting," came Aiden's voice.

"Why on earth was Dr. McKay fascinated by such a thing?" Teyla asked.

"I don't know, but Ford, grab the body bag…and some gloves, we'll get this thing wrapped up then get the hell outta here."

"Yes sir."

"Atlantis, this is Jumper one, we've got Dr. McKay's new toy, we're on our way home."

"Good, see you soon." Elizabeth looked up from the console to see Rodney a level below trying to make his way up the stairs on a cane. She took it as a good sign, although she had to bite her tongue more than once when it looked as though he would fall backwards off the stairs.

"Elizabeth," he said through a clenched jaw. She could tell he was in more pain than usual, his face was unusually pale and he had drops of sweating starting to form at his brow.

"Rodney, I see Carson moved you up from crutches, how does the knee feel?" She didn't need to ask, while Rodney had been good about working the leg and getting what had to be done…done, she had heard every complaint and even some of the unsaid complaints.

"Oh, feels…horrible, you know the whole I feel like it's going to fall off, and it just won't," he explained in a huff of air.

She smiled, "it's good to see it's going so well, John is on his way back with your alien."

"Really?" Rodney seemed surprised, Elizabeth wasn't sure she wanted to know why he had been eager but suddenly looked a little apprehensive.

"Yep…so did you find anything out on these creatures yet?"

"Huh…no, no nothing new," he lied as he forced a smile.

"Well they should be here within eight hours," she said smiling over at him.

"Great."

"You okay Rodney?" Elizabeth eyed the man, she knew when he was lying, more than that she knew when he was nervous, and right now he seemed to be teetering between the two.

"Yeah, fine…I'll be in my lab," he turned and began to hobble away.

Elizabeth shook her head at the man she loved and headed back into her office, trying not to wonder why he would feel the sudden need to lie to her.

"All right, let's get a good look at him," Carson said as the group of five stood around the alien body. This creature…whatever put a whole new definition to Alien as far as Carson was concerned.

"I think this is where we leave," muttered John as he turned to leave the infirmary, Aiden was right on his tail, and Teyla wasn't far behind.

Carson looked over at Rodney, "mind if I join them?"

"I'm not a medical doctor, you have to stay!" Rodney bit.

"Aye, but I'm not a pathologist, either…"

"She's weird, thanks but I think I'd prefer you," Rodney stated, "now cut," Rodney said pointing at the body.

"Right," Carson stole himself for the first incision and within moments they had a Y-incision in the creature's body.

"Oh my god," Rodney whispered looking at the creature.

"That's disgusting," whispered Carson.

"Yes…yes it is, These must be the lungs," Rodney said pointing to the two human like organs.

"That is definitely not human blood," Carson said at the black liquid blood.

"Is that a heart?"

"This is disturbing," Carson murmured.

"Boy is it ever," Rodney agreed. He had seen autopsies before, but this was just…different, disgusting was an excellent word for actually. It was like the creature had no internal organs aside from a heart and two lungs, it didn't even look like it had muscles. The Wraith was more human than this thing.

"What about the stuff on the outer layer?" Rodney asked.

"I'll have to analyze it," Carson spoke absently as he continued to look the body over.

"How old do you think he is?" Rodney asked grinning from ear to ear.

"You're enjoying this far too much lad, I don't know how old it is Rodney, its a blood alien."

"I'm going to go get my laptop, I'll be right back," Rodney quickly hobbled away to get his computer.

Carson watched him then looked down at the body, he felt a sudden chill sweep through his body and had to shiver, "ick," he muttered as he moved away from the body a little.

_ > > > > > > > > > >_

_"Mother?" she asked taking a step forward, she was in a beautiful old fashioned house, not like the one from her planet, but like the one she had lived in during the early years of her on Earth, "momma?" she called as she hurried through the house._

_"Emie, what are you doing here?" came the sweet voice. Turning the small child threw herself into the arms of her mother. She held tightly for a moment and looked up into the clear green eyes._

_"Momma, where's papa?"_

_"Papa is busy darling, but I must tell you something very important," the woman looked at her child seriously for a moment. "A shadow shall fall over the city and a tiny child shall come for to save the city floating upon water from the dark shadows."_

_"Momma?"_

_"A light shall be found among the darkness and fear, a new leader shall emerge and a family will begin. The city upon the water shall be saved."_

_"What does it mean momma?"_

_"Goodbye my child…"_ _the dark haired green eyed woman looked down to see a welling red spot on the front of her shirt. She looked at her tiny child in horror._

_"Momma?" cried the small girl._

_"Go forth Emie, for your small child will be the Alina Elen," the woman said. The girl's eyes grew wide in terror as her mother fell to the ground, her body decaying rapidly…_Emeena gasped as she sat up in bed, she allowed her awareness to surround her this time before moving. The bed by her side was empty, meaning wherever Carson Beckett was he wasn't here.

She was aware of the creature Rodney had argued with Elizabeth about to bring it here, and personally she wasn't so thrilled about the idea of learning things about all these creatures. She sat back against the wall and took a deep breath, trying to control her breathing and pulse. She paused, the lights turned on seconds later, she was suddenly glad she had the gene to turn on the lights. Now if only she had the power to get Carson by her side. Taking another deep breath she slowly got out of bed and changed into a pair of jeans and a jacket, she then made her way down the hall, hoping to find Carson, or perhaps even Elizabeth. Finding them was the easy part, they were sitting in the infirmary in Carson's office, although neither doctor was talking, Carson looked half asleep, she watched him for a few moments, as he ran a hand over his face two or three times. Rodney was eating on of his fruit bars, neither one looked very good.

"Carson," she said softly as she stood at the door to his office. Blue eyes turned upwards as he looked over at her and smiled weakly.

"Morning lass, what are you doin' up, it's only…three," Carson spoke, Rodney grunted when he said the time.

"I had another dream," she said simply. Emeena never would have thought of herself as translucent or fragile, after all she had survived so much in her life, she had watched her father die, and while she had never seen her mother die she had lived through the death of her mother as well to become a doctor on her planet.

However Carson must have seen something because a second after saying it he was out of his chair and walking towards her, "are ya all right?" he asked kindly.

"Yeah…but I think we should probably talk to Elizabeth about this one," she stated simply. While she didn't exactly like talking about dreams, she knew this one was important, and it was probably one of those dreams you don't keep to yourself.

"Rodney…Rodney wake up!" Carson said jabbing his best friend in the shoulder.

The scientist grunted and opened his eyes, "I'm awake, just resting my eyes," he replied in something akin to a mumble.

"We're going to the briefing room, perhaps you should go wake up Elizabeth and John," Carson said pointedly.

"Yes master," he bit then walked off down the hallway to gather his two close friends.

Less than twenty minutes later John, Teyla, Rodney, Elizabeth, Carson and Emeena were seated around the table. Although none of them looked very awake. John had no shoes on and was still in his sweat pants. Elizabeth had Rodney's jacket on because she was probably cold, and Rodney still didn't look anymore awake than he had twenty minutes ago.

"Tell us about the dream Emeena," Elizabeth spoke first, hoping a tale would jolt her two chief of staffs awake.

Emeena quickly retold what should could remember, including the prophecy her mother had mentioned.

"What were the two parts of the prophecy?" Rodney asked, now more awake than he had been in days

"Darkness is coming my child, a darkness unlike anything ever known before A light shall be found among the darkness and fear, a new leader shall emerge and a family will begin. The city upon the water shall be saved," spoke Emeena in an almost absent tone.

"Well I have the bad feeling we're the city upon water," stated Rodney looking around the table. John had sat up a little straighter, trying to bring himself out of his exhaustion.

"Emeena, is there any story or tale of such darkness on Caledonia?" Elizabeth questioned.

"No, we don't speak of such things. Most of our tales are about families, and children."

"All right, well unless you see a reason to stop gate travel, I still want AR-1 to go through to M6G-563."

"I'd still like to go wit…"

"Rodney, you're not going, Carson has yet to clear you for duty and I'm not going to go over his head," Elizabeth said looking at him. His face grew grim and angry as he looked over to Carson.

"Don't look at me lad, you and I both know that knee is in no shape to go anywhere yet, give it a few more weeks," Carson stated.

"Well, on that pleasant note I move this meeting to be adjourned because if we're leaving at nine, I'd like to have at least two hours of sleep," John spoke his hand up.

Elizabeth grinned and nodded, "I second that note, Emeena, why don't you come to my office tomorrow afternoon and we'll see if we can't find out more about this light in the darkness."

"Very well," Emeena said nodding.

The group began to follow each other out of the briefing room, Rodney, however remained looking angry and frustrated, "Elizabeth I can do this," he stated.

"I'm not questioning you Rodney, I'm questioning your knee. Carson already told you it would be another three or four weeks. Now if you continue to argue with me about this, I'll treat you like the five year old you're acting like and tell you no gate travel for six weeks. Rodney, you're not going tomorrow, end of story."

"Fine," with that he hobbled out the door heading the opposite way of their quarters. Elizabeth watched him and shook her head.

"Fine," she murmured as she headed towards the infirmary to have a discussion with her favorite doctor.

> > > > > > > > > > > >

"He can't go Elizabeth; he can't even walk fast on it yet, if they got into trouble he would be stuck on the planet. Now he may not accept it, but he's aware of the pain he's going through. He complained about forty pounds no more than two days ago."

"Carson, I'm not asking you for permission to let him go…"

"Oh, because that's a wee bit what it sounded like. Look Dr. Weir, let him complain he's acting like a child. He's frustrated, I'll remind him tomorrow that going off planet isn't a good idea when I tell him it's time to start running lightly on that knee."

"Carson…"

"I'll keep him busy tomorrow, but he won't be happy."

"Thank you."

"Don't worry lass, he'll be back on the team in a month and out of our hair everyday," Carson said grinning.

She smiled and made her way out of the infirmary, sighing she headed down the hallway towards the quarters she and Rodney had been sharing for almost a year. She slowly pushed the control panel to open the door and grinned when she caught her first glimpse of Rodney, he slept soundly on the couch, on leg dangling off the side, his bad leg propped up on the arm rest of the couch. He had one arm behind his head, and the other was against his stomach, he was obvious he was out due to exhaustion. A soft snoring sound came from his open mouth.

"Oh Rodney," she whispered. Sighing she took the blanket from their bed and draped it across his body, he didn't wake. Leaning over she gently ran her hand against his cheek, "what am I ever going to do with you," she loved this man, she couldn't deny how much she loved this man.

Standing up straighter she climbed into their bed and curled around her slightly swollen stomach, closing her eyes, she allowed her dreams to take her away as she fell asleep for the first time in days to the sound of Rodney's snoring. Rodney snorted as he woke up to an annoying constant shaking of his shoulder, turning over he almost panicked when he realized he wasn't in his bed. Opening his eyes he stared into the gleaming eyes of Elizabeth.

"What…what time is it?" He asked

"Feel my stomach," she said grinning.

"Ah, Liz, no offense but… this isn't exactly a great time to be…"

"I'm not talking about sex Rodney, the baby, he kicked, feel," she pressed his hand against her small belly.

Rodney sighed, and then suddenly felt it, a small kick under his hand, a grin spread across his face as he looked up into her eyes, "that's amazing," he whispered, suddenly more excited than ever to be having a child in his life.

"That's our son," she said smiling. Standing up Rodney led her back to their bed. Within moments the two were curled up in each other's arms, sleeping with the good feeling in knowing their child was still in there and that he would hold them together.


	5. Chapter 5

Morning found Rodney and Elizabeth curled up in each other's arms. Elizabeth sighed as she drew in the familiar aroma that was Rodney McKay. She leaned her head against his shoulder and smiled against his shirt.

"I'm sorry," he whispered as he leaned his chin against her head. She grinned and settled further in his arms, wrapping her arms around his waist.

"Don't worry about it, let's just enjoy now," she replied, "what time is it?" she didn't bother turning to look, she knew Rodney would look for her.

"Six hundred hours, and we've got at least another hour before we have to head off to breakfast," he said she could hear the grin in his voice.

"I'm not moving," she stated simply, she closed her eyes and took a moment to relax, she hadn't felt this good in days. Of course she hadn't really been in his arms for days.

"So, how's are baby?" He asked gently, his hand resting against her slightly swollen belly. She hadn't grown much in six months, he was surprised that she wasn't putting on too much weight, although according to Carson both she and the baby were healthy as could be.

"The baby and I are doing just fine, although I'm a little lonely, I'll admit. Rodney, I'm worried about you, as your…well your wife emotionally and as your boss."

"Well other than an overly normal achy knee, I'm doing fine, I'm no more tired than usual, but I'm doing much better. Almost back to my normal superhuman self," he said buffing out his chest in pride.

"Oh brother," she giggled into his chest.

"Can I help it if I just happen to be one of the only ones able to keep this city going?"

"Yeah running with your ego," she chuckled softly.

"This from the woman who tries to take the world on by her own," he said in a gentle joking tone.

"Only sometimes," she grinned pressing her lips to his.

The next twenty minutes was spent just enjoying each other's company, by six-thirty two, Rodney was in the shower getting ready for breakfast, and Elizabeth was putting her hair back. She grinned when she felt two strong arms wrap around he waist. She felt a kiss pressed against her cheek and met Rodney's eyes in the mirror.

"You're beautiful," he whispered. He squeezed her a little tighter than headed into the main part of the bedroom, to get dressed. She chuckled and finished up and joined him in the bedroom. He looked up at her confidently.

Breakfast was busy already even for seven in the morning; Teyla and John were both talking quietly over military eggs and orange juice. Teyla was smiling as they nodded. Rodney and Elizabeth joined them over at the table, and quickly joined the couple in conversation.

"Ford is awake, he'll be joining us in twenty minutes or so, apparently he overslept," grinned John, having the feeling there was more to it than that.

John, Aiden and Teyla three hours later the next morning, much to the chagrin of Rodney, he was not with them. Carson had hauled him off to the infirmary to run some more tests.

John looked around as they stepped onto the planet and he couldn't help but be completely stunned by what he was seeing, there were people all over the place…and they were dead. It was eerie, almost as though the people had died from fright, their eyes wide open in terror and mouths dropped in a permanent scream or cry.

John felt a shiver run down his spine

"What the hell happened here," whispered John as he looked around hesitantly.

"Didn't Rodney say this place was supposed to be inhabited?" Aiden whispered.

"Oh yeah, that's exactly what he said, but these people don't look very…alive do they?"

"No sir," whispered Ford.

"Dial up Atlantis, send a message through to Weir, tell her what we've found and that we need help. Tell her we need a containment team too," John didn't want to know what these people had suddenly died of, he looked down at one person and grimaced, the person's eyes and mouth were open wide, a look of sheer terror on the face.

"It looks like they were frightened to death," whispered John as he studied another dead body.

He gasped when a small girl suddenly walked out from behind the near by bush, he fell to his butt as he stared at the only living girl, "Ford," he called, "hi, my name is John Sheppard," John said eyeing the girl carefully.

The girl didn't seem to hear him, bending down the reached out and touched one of the dead bodies, touching the cheeks. John was tempted to tell her not to touch anything, but suddenly he had the feeling the child was just fine, and even more she probably didn't understand English very well.

"Sir, I think it's starting to rain," came Ford's voice as he approached the Major, Teyla stood near by and eyed the child as well.

"I believe you're probably right, Teyla, there should be a blanket in my pack, would you get it out please, we can at least try and warm this little tyke up," John moved closer to her, she didn't budge, however her eyes were upon him, obviously curious about what he was planning to do to her.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you, John, I'm John."

"John," came the girls' voice, John was surprised that she could understand and speak.

"That's Ford, and this is Teyla," he said pointing to his teammates.

"John," she said again looking down at the body she reached out and closed the eyes to the dead person, "mama," she whispered quietly

John, Teyla, Ford and the small girl wasted no time, as soon as team of nine came through in hazmats suits and okayed them, they returned to earth to show both Rodney and Carson their findings

"Okay, this is the second time in as many years you've come back here carrying a wee one into my infirmary," Carson stated as he stood beside the gurney where Rodney sat.

Rodney's three teammates stood in front of them, water logged and exhausted looking, in John's arms sat a small child wrapped in what was probably a warm dry blanket at one point. The small girl had dark brown hair and doe brown eyes, she was holding to John tightly, although it was obvious she was cold, because they were both shaking quite a bit.

"At least we know it isn't Rodney," John said eyeing his best friend on the bed.

"Yes well, at least with Rodney, we had some idea what to expect," Carson moved over to John and the small child. She was probably four maybe a little older, she was quite a pretty little gal, "come here little 'un," he reached out and lifted her from John's arms, cuddling her close for a moment, "certainly is cuter than Rodney," he said smiling as the big brown eyes looked up at him.

"Hey," Rodney admonished

"You three should get showered and changed out of those wet clothes, then I want ya all back 'ere for a check up," Carson said as he continued to look at the little girl.

The three AR-1 members made their way out of the infirmary, leaving Carson, Rodney and the little girl, "I'll go get Elizabeth," Rodney spoke before Carson could recruit him for any help. He stood up quickly, grabbing his cane and hobbled out of the infirmary.

Carson stood watching him limp out and shook his head, "coward," he murmured then turning his attention back the little one.

She seemed content in looking around as Carson placed her on a gurney, "looks like it's just you and me. Don't suppose you speak English do ya?"

Big brown eyes looked back up at him, reaching out he tickled her belly, causing a high pitched giggled, "all right then, if you won't tell me, I'll have to tickle it outta ya," he did it again, the girl emitting another squeal of delight as she clapped her hands together at his antics.

"Car…oh my goodness," Emeena whispered as she walked through the infirmary doors and caught glimpse of the adorable girl Carson was talking to.

"Isn't she a cute 'un," Carson grinned as he looked at the girl.

"She certainly is," Emeena laughed as she came over to join them, "who is she?" Emeena asked looking up at Carson then back down at the child.

"No idea, she was alone on some planet. The only 'un left alive."

"That's terrible, you poor dear," Emeena gently pushed a lock of hair behind the girl's ear, "how old is she?"

"Roughly, four maybe five at most."

"Well, she certainly is a little angel," Emeena said as she looked the girl over.

"Aye, but we should get her out of these wet clothes, no idea what she might catch," Carson said.

"I'll go get some towels," She moved over to one of the carts and grabbed a couple towels, coming back she grinned, Carson had her shirt off and took one of the towels, quickly starting to dry her hair and upper body off.

"Why don't I leave you to the rest an' get some scrubs," Carson said handing Emeena the towels.

"Sure," she continued to work on drying the girls' hair. She had the girl completely dry and wrapped in a towel by the time Carson joined her from one of the closets. Emeena was talking to the child grinning.

"Here," Carson said handing her the clothes.

"I'm sorry, did I not just dry her, I think it's your turn honey," Emeena said grinning.

Carson sighed and stood the girl on the gurney, moments later he had her completely dressed and sitting back down on the bed.

"Excellent job Doctor," Emeena said grinning like the cat that eaten the canary.

"Twit," he murmured as he looked back down at those big brown eyes.

When Elizabeth walked into the infirmary she had to bite back a grin. Emeena sat on the infirmary bed with a small girl, playing a game similar to patty cake. Carson was attempting check the girl's vitals but wasn't succeeding thus far.

"When Rodney said there was an emergency in the infirmary this certainly wasn't what I had pictured," Elizabeth said crossing her arms in front of her as she headed over to the two physicians and the little girl.

The two doctors looked up, both grinning sheepishly; she looked down at the little girl and grinned.

Dark brown eyes looked into her hazel ones, "Arien!" she said grinning as she reached out to Elizabeth.

Elizabeth lifted the girl into her arms out of instinct and smiled as she held the bundle of warmth, "it means sung light in my native language," Emeena explained as she looked from Liz to the girl, "I wonder what other words she knows."

"Do you know her name?" Elizabeth asked.

"No, she barely talks, other than what she just said to you, she's giggled and that's about it," Carson answered.

"Would King Linor know anything?" Elizabeth asked as she leaned her forehead against the small girl's. The girl giggled and reached out for a strand of Elizabeth's hair.

"He may, I'm sure Carson and I could take her to Caledonia tomorrow and see what we could learn," Emeena stated simply.

"Good, and take Rodney with you, maybe he can find out a little more about the creature he brought from…well Planet McKay. He's dying to go off world too."

"We really need better names for planets," murmured Carson as he looked at the little angel they had found.


	6. Chapter 6

Carson and Emeena ran many tests on the small child for as long as they could until she became feisty and some cranky. Carson tried to feed her something but when she easily spit it right back at him, Carson guessed she was a little tired of being poked, prodded and scanned.

The child began to cry as she reached out for Emeena, the Caledonian woman lifted the little girl into her arms and smiled as she walked around the infirmary holding and singing softly to the woman.

A solemn pair of blue eyes watched her in love and fascination, he couldn't get over how beautiful she was, even as she carried a whiny child. Carson smiled, when Rodney had been the baby for awhile Carson had felt protective of the child, but this little girl was different. Carson watched as Emeena patted her back, murmuring words of kindness and love to her. The child was quickly falling fast asleep on the woman's shoulders and Carson had never seen something so cute, beautiful and amazing in his entire life.

He had a mother, but Carson couldn't remember the late nights his mother had spent sitting up with him in da's old chair rocking him to sleep. He had the pictures and his ma's stories to go by. Carson knew his ma loved to care for him, she had always loved to spoil her little Carson.

Suddenly he knew why his da loved his mum so much, because she must have been so beautiful when her motherly side came out, he was so in love with her he didn't know what to do with himself suddenly.

"What?" Emeena said looking at Carson who wore a goofy grin on his face. He looked up at her and grinned.

"Nothin', just thinkin'," he replied as he continued to watch her contentedly. She walked back over to him with the child in her arms, he pressed a kiss to the back of the girl's head.

"I love you," he said softly looking at Emeena seriously. She smiled, blushing slightly and nodded.

"I love you too," she whispered in reply to him.

They gathered in the gate room first thing the next morning, ready to travel to Emeena's home world,"okay little one, we're going to my home planet, don't worry, you'll be safe with us," Emeena said as she looked at the small unsure looking child sitting in Rodney's arms. She smiled gently and rubbed the girl's back.

"All right Emeena, you guys are good to, good luck," Elizabeth called. She watched the two doctors, one little girl and a scientist walk through the event horizon.

On the other side the three paused for a moment and took a look around, Carson was very aware of the tiny arms tightly wrapped around his neck. He rubbed her back and shushed her gently, "don't worry little lass, you're safe with me," he pulled her closer as she leaned her head against his shoulder.

Emeena took the lead through the beautiful country for the twenty minute walk to the city. In the two years they had known Caledonia they had seemingly come a long way, part of their evolution was thanks to Carson, another part was to the scientists in at Atlantis. King Linor had even expressed some interest in the idea of creating a school where children could come and learn things about their country as well as Atlantis, their allies.

"Emeena," came the pleasant voice of King Linor, he was a simple friendly man, who worked hard for his people, their community worked hard for what they had, it was similar to America in a democracy, the people voted for what they believed, but there was a parliament that usually made the final decisions.

"Hello Jadiah," she greeted the man with a firm handshake and a tight hug. She paused and looked back at her friends, "You remember Dr. McKay, and obviously you know Carson."

"Hello again Doctors, it is wonderful to see you both," the king said taking their hands.

"It is a pleasure to see you as well, we were hoping to speak with you, and Rodney was hoping to get a look at some of our resources we have on Caledonia's information," Carson explained.

"Of course, Rodney, the records building is across the street, tell them I sent you, come Emeena, Carson, we'll go to my office."

Rodney hurried across the street the records building while his two friends and the small girl headed inside the government building.

"She says her name is Kelann," Emeena explained to her King and dear friend.

"I have heard of it, her name means eternal strength in our language, which I'm sure you've already told Atlantis. She is what is called the aina elen," Linor spoke simply.

"Are you certain?" Emeena questioned.

"Of course, what will you do with her?" He questioned her.

"We'll keep her, thank you Linor," Carson said slightly annoyed that suddenly the man seemed to be concerned about the child's well being when ten minutes ago he didn't care.

Emeena didn't speak until they were descending the stairs of the building outside, "as I told you Kelann means eternal strength, Aina Elen means holy star in my language. It is what your people would call an old wives tale. Every ten thousand years a child usually no older than six descends to a planet to rescue the inhabitants from a terrible plague of some sort. She's supposed to be part ancient, and possess the same powers as the ancients; including a mind reading communication system, of sorts."

"Hold on a minute, this child, no older than a toddler, has the ability I have to use the chair and read minds?" Carson asked skeptically.

"That's what the legend has always said," stated Emeena looking at the girl resting against Carson's hip.

"Well now what?"

"We protect her Carson, if my mother was correct this girl could very well be the one to save Atlantis."

"Call me skeptic, but I'll believe it when I see it," Carson said looking at Emeena, their eyes met then drifted down to the child Carson held. Carson and Emeena headed to the library, where Rodney sat on the floor, his bad knee stretched out in front of him, surrounded by books, and articles.

"Rodney?"

"This stuff is amazing, I've found out more about your culture in two hours than I ever though possible."

"Did you learn anything about our mystery race?"

"Huh…oh yeah, right, did you know there's a child that comes every ten thousand years and this child is supposed to be a prophet of some sort. Absolutely amazing."

"Rodney…the race?"

"Blue eyes down, "oh yes, of course. The race is called the Morchaint, very nasty bunch they feed on fear."

"That's it?"

"Of course not, here," picking up a book he began to read, "inhabitants of Kaldur, they thrive of a great power. They're translated into dark shadow."

"Kaldur means land of darkness," Emeena said nodding at what he was saying, she had heard tales of the Morchaint."

"The great power are two ZedPMs, look," pulling out another book Rodney pointed to the picture, "and guess what?"

Carson looked at his friend, "what?"

"I think we can go there," grinned Rodney, Carson didn't miss the gleam of excitement in the scientists eyes, he could tell almost instantly that something was going to happen.

Rodney, Carson, Emeena and Kelann returned to Atlantis nearly four hours after leaving. Rodney had barrowed several of the books he had discovered information in. Carson carried Kelann who was fast asleep, her head resting against his shoulder.

"Nice to see he took it easy," Elizabeth joked grinning as she watched Rodney grin at her and John with all the books in his arms.

"Yes well, ya' know Rodney, he likes to go all out," Carson said with a wide grin on his face.

"Why don't you guys get cleaned up and get some food, we'll have a briefing in an hour," Elizabeth said smiling.

Rodney sat in his lab twenty minutes later, which is exactly where John knew he would find the scientist, he knew Rodney and he also knew when Rodney got interested in something he tended to be oblivious to the rest of the world.

"Rodney, I believe Elizabeth said you should clean up and get something to eat, when's the last time did you question?"

"Uh…I don't know….breakfast?"

"Rodney, aren't you hungry?"

"This is so interesting, the world these creatures inhabited….is supposed to be dead now, but get this…

"Rodney, listen to me, you need to eat something," John grabbed his arm, but Rodney quickly drew it away.

"This is important, the more I can give Elizabeth, the more likely she is to let us go."

"Uh, Rodney, no offense but you're still weeks away from actually being able to go off world on a real mission."

"Yes but…"

"Rodney, we've got a briefing in…half an hour, and you still need food, come on."

"Hang on…hang on," murmured Rodney grinning."

"No Rodney, come on."

"Elizabeth it could be worth it, they have what we need. The land is said to have been uninhabited for many years. They're not using them!" Rodney said grinning.

If she didn't know better Elizabeth would have sworn Rodney had way too much coffee this morning. She grinned as he tried to animate to her how he felt, "I'm not sure about this idea Rodney, you're not off medical leave yet; and these…Morchaint? They don't exactly sound friendly."

"It might be worth it Elizabeth, we could protect ourselves with the two ZPMs, and travel back and forth to earth on a regular basis," John explained calmly, "besides we can wait a couple weeks, maybe by then we'll know more about Kelann and the Morchaint."

"You're both sure about this?" Elizabeth said looking at them both.

"Yes," they both replied.

"All right, you if Dr. Beckett approves, then you have a go…but not for another two weeks. Try and make it back in one piece this time."

Rodney grinned at her response, "I'm going to go tell Radek to prepare for the power! This is great!"

John watched his best friend with a grin then looked at Elizabeth, "you're sure you wanna marry that crazy man?"

"Positive," she whispered.


	7. Chapter 7

The next three weeks dragged for Rodney as he continued his strength training and exercises. Elizabeth was worried about him as usual, she assumed it was her mothering instinct kicking in. However Rodney wasn't the only one pushing himself to his limits. So was everyone else, Teyla, John and Carson were all pushing himself to do his best and beyond. Many nights he would return to their quarters exhausted, and to new heights of pain.

He wasn't the only exhausted however, Emeena and Carson were running around trying to take care of the usual problems on Atlantis, help Rodney, as well as care for little Kelann. It didn't take a genius to see they would be wonderful parents one day.

Finally after three long weeks, Rodney arrived in the infirmary ready for his final check up. "Flex your foot…good now extend it," he nodded as Rodney carefully moved his foot as well as his knee. Carson watched his face to check for any pained expression.

Carson was impressed, there had been days when he was sure Rodney would quit or get too tired, however Carson was positive Rodney was now in better shape than ever before. Rodney had lost some weight, gained muscle. He was stronger and faster now. Carson felt pride; even Rodney's whining level had dropped considerably low.

"Now be honest with me lad, how do you feel?" For a moment it looked as though the scientist was ready to say 'I'm fine' or lie, however then he shrugged.

"I'm a little sore, and tired."

"If I let you go on a mission tomorrow and you were forced to run for one reason or another, would you be able to keep up?" Carson spotted John out of the corner of his eye.

"No…but I never could to begin with," Rodney stated sarcastically.

"Major, what do you think?"

"Well you're the doc, doc…" John paused looking at Rodney's pleading eyes, "but I think he's ready."

"Well…I agree, I'll go let Elizabeth know you're back on active duty."

"Carson says your ready to go on a mission…I scheduled your mission for the day after tomorrow," Elizabeth said as she sat on the bed and watched Rodney as he changed into boxers and a t-shirt.

"I can do this Liz," he said looking at her seriously.

"I didn't say you couldn't."

"Liz, don't start that, we're not going to have another argument now, it's not good for you. Carson had his piece of mind, he said I'm find to go and that I'll be fine."

"I'm not saying I don't trust him Rodney, or you, I'm just saying I have a bad feeling."

"You're pregnant, you've been having bad feelings for months," he pointed in annoyance. Elizabeth forced herself to bite her tongue and not scream or yell at him for that annoyingly rude comment.

"I'm going to ignore you said that on the grounds I'm in no shape to hit my chief of science. I think I'm allowed to care about my finest teams!" She bit angrily.

"Look we can take care of ourselves! Would you stop worrying!"

"If you don't like it you don't have to stick around, I agreed to let you go on this mission, I've sat by for the past several months silently and watched you work yourself to the bone. You're not the only one trying to deal with what happens on this godforsaken city! I'm loosing good people every week! I will not loose anyone else, and I certainly will not loose the father of my child! If you don't like that you can sleep on the damn couch."

"You are worrying over nothing!" He said in the voice Elizabeth knew all too well, it was his way of saying 'I'm right and you're wrong' without actually openly saying it. She hated it when he did that, it made her feel inferior to him, although he tended to have that affect on many people.

"Aren't you the one who thinks intuition should be followed?" She said staring at him in anger and frustration.

"Not when it involves the possibility to get home!" he growled

"I want to go home just as much as you do Rodney, but I will not risk the lives of more good peop…."

"There's a difference between being cautious and being ridicules!" he growled.

"Just get out!" she yelled finally, tired of putting up with him.

He stared at her then grabbed his pants, pulling them on he left the room, wishing more than ever he could slam the door behind him.

It was no surprise when Rodney found himself at his lab less than five minutes later. He looked around for a moment then grabbed one of the books he had barrowed from Emeena's world and his laptop.

Teyla found him hunched over his laptop and the book nearly four hours later, she had been heading to John's room. She stopped at the lab when she saw him, she couldn't help but be curious and worried, "should you not be resting for our mission in two days?"

"Teyla," he said in somewhat of a grunt, he looked at her in exhaustion then looked back at the screen, "Liz…Dr. Weir thinks something could go wrong, she has…an intuition, a sense that something is wrong. So…so we argued and I came here, I figured maybe if I went over this stuff all over again then maybe I could see what she saw, or thought and could tell her if she was right or wrong."

"Have you?" Teyla asked him as she came over and took a seat on the stool by his side.

"No, nothing. There's nothing here that says the world we're going to should be dangerous in anyway. It's probably the safest planet we'll ever be on."

"And yet you look anyway?"

"Haven't you ever done something for someone because…just because you cared about them…"

"Yes, I have many times, in my planet we say it is because we truly love someone that we so willingly try to understand them. Why did you come here Dr. McKay?"

"Because when Elizabeth worries…I worry, she shouldn't worry, she's expecting a baby! I shouldn't have to worry her. I assumed maybe if I came down here and found something that could stop us from going to that planet maybe she'd feel better about this feeling she has."

"She is going to worry Rodney, just like John worries about us his team members and how Carson worries about Emeena, it is…as John would say human to worry about those you love. Sitting here will not make either of you feel better."

"No, it won't…especially since I didn't find a damn thing."

"Rest Dr. McKay, it is best."

"You are an amazing person Teyla," Rodney said grinning at her kindly.

"You are quite a man yourself."

Rodney grinned and headed out of the lab, Teyla headed the other way to John's room. Rodney slowly entered the room to find Elizabeth sleeping soundly in the bed, or at least he thought she was.

Climbing in the bed by her, he wrapped an arm around her and sighed, "you're not the only one having mood swings," he said softly.

"Rodney…"

"Shh, we'll worry about it later, we won't argue anymore tonight, because like you I worry as well, I worry about you and that baby. I won't let anything happen to us, myself included."

"Am I weak?" She asked turning on her side to face him.

"You weak, if I recall you're the person who wanted to go on this mission, you're the woman who convince me to calm down when we only had thirty-eight minutes to live, you're the woman who stood up to Koyla time and time again when he threatened to kill us both, you're the woman who stood against John to save this city, but knew when to let him have his way. You faced the Genii, the Wraith and you faced Kavanagh. If you're weak then…well most of us couldn't survive what you've survived. Your not weak Liz, you never will be. Your just…very pregnant."

Elizabeth chuckled softly as she hugged him tightly and sighed, they would discuss this later, for now, she was content to lie in his arms

"Okay Major, you're good to go," Elizabeth called as they watched the wormhole engage. She looked down at the four member team; they hadn't been off world together for almost two months. They all seemed to be getting along well, that wasn't what Elizabeth was worried about, but she couldn't shake the feeling, a feeling she was beginning to get all too often now.

"Let's move out," John said leading the group, Teyla and Aiden right on his tail, behind them was Rodney, looking sure of him-self.

Rodney's limp was practically gone; Carson had Okayed him to go off world two days ago. This was to be a simple mission; they were going in, finding the ZPMs, and coming home. Elizabeth knew he felt stronger. He had told her last night he could do this without a problem, he was fairly sure he even know where to find the ZPMs.

With confidence she watched them walk through the gate, she then nodded to Peter to shut down the gate, "Good luck AR-1."

The world was cold, as Rodney stepped through to the other side, he looked around and found it dark and chilly. Almost too quiet to be really uninhabited; as thought planet was standing still waiting to see what would transpire from the humans. Shadows seemed to cover the land in front of them, a shadow like the one he had encountered during the shield…issue.

Rodney looked ahead to see John and Aiden both had their guns drawn and ready. Neither looked very sure of what they were preparing to shoot or walk into but John looked determined.

"John?" Rodney whispered looking at his friend.

"Aiden take our sixes, Teyla you're with him, McKay you're with me."

Ready for a fight, the four members cautiously began to move, "maybe this wasn't such a good idea…" Rodney whispered softly as he walked behind the major.

"Rodney calm down, you're not afraid of the dark…are you?" John poked grinning.

Rodney, however, wasn't grinning; a vivid memory plagued every shadow. "Who me?" He lied, "no…of course not…not really…okay maybe a little."

"What is that?" Teyla asked looking up. No more than two feet above them hung an odd sign ready 'Ennyn Morwath'.

Rodney felt a shiver run down his spin, "maybe…maybe we should go back," he whispered.

"For once, I'm with the doc," Aiden agreed.

"We came here to get home, I'm not going to stop now. If there really are three ZPMs here, then we're going to find them," Jon stated with conviction.

With hesitation among them, the group stepped under the sign. They didn't get very far, a dark mist began to surround them, engulfing their bodies. Rodney began to feel lightheaded, stars dancing in front of his blue eyes. A second later the darkness swallowed his consciousness.

The mist didn't clear, it surrounded the now four unconscious members of the Atlantis team.

To Be Continued


End file.
